If elected on 7 September Abbott and Coalition have plans to immediately push for coal seam gas industry expansion in NSW

So much for Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan’s assurances concerning coal seam gas exploration and mining on the NSW North Coast.....

Australian Mining 4 September 2013:

The Abbott government would also drive the expansion of NSW’s coal seam gas sector. Macfarlane would make the NSW domestic gas matter one of his top three concerns, The Australian reported.

Macfarlane has already set a Christmas deadline to resolve the issue, saying it may already be three months overdue.

He labelled the condition urgent “beyond belief”.

“It’s a massive problem and it’s going to cost jobs from Newcastle to Wollongong if we don’t get it sorted,” he said.

“The only situation short-term is to get the CSG industry going well enough to supply the domestic demand, which is going to start to exceed supply in 2015 and 2016 when they start turning on the LNG trains in Gladstone.

The Coalition government and Macfarlane also promised to bring in an exploration development incentive.

Under the scheme, junior mining companies with no taxable income can pass eligible exploration expenses on to their shareholders.

A Minerals Council of Australia spokesman said the pledge showed the Coalition understood the importance of exploration.

“The MCA has regularly highlighted the tax asymmetry in the treatment of exploration expenses for companies with no taxable income.”

The Australian Tax Office will decide on a part of the costs that investors can claim as tax credits.

It is aimed at junior mining companies with no taxable income and will be capped at $100 million over the forward estimates.

Association of Mining and Exploration Companies head Simon Bennison recently told Australian Mining juniors are operating without support and said if this continues, the future of the industry is in jeopardy.